Here is this not-so-young priest who practices his evangelistic work very much in contrast to the way Jesus Christ did it during his time.
This supposedly servant of God has virtually done some “backbiting” against the leaders of a Gagmay’ng Kristohanong Katilingban (GKK) when while he was celebrating mass in another GKK chapel, he told the mass goers in that community that the neighboring chapel about half a kilometer away, is the “dirtiest” chapel he has held masses and that its surrounding is unkempt.
We had several opportunities to see the chapel as well as have heard masses in that mini-house of God. As far as our as well as others’ personal standards the said chapel and its surroundings are not really that “offensive” to the eyes.
But of course we cannot do anything about it if the concerned priest has his own standard of cleanliness and orderliness and the said chapel does not meet the standard that he has.
What is unusual is that he made the description as part of his homily in a mass he celebrated in another chapel where many of the mass goers were also from the GKK that the priest openly chastised.
Worst is that the servant of God (kuno) confronted the GKK leaders and told them that if they cannot improve the appearance of the chapel as well as enhance its vicinity it’s better for them to resign. What a bold statement from the man of God. Asking the GKK leaders to resign? It is as if the priest does not know that the GKK officers are mere volunteers in helping provide the Catholic Church ministers wider reach in their evangelistic work The GKK leaders in the said community are mostly farm workers who had so much difficulty in making their ends meet. They sacrifice a significant portion of their time just to make sure they can discharge their duties as volunteers in helping the church.
We are no fanatically devout Catholic but we see to it that we hear mass regularly and skip only when there are other urgent demands. But we keep track with God’s words on a daily basis by reading “The Bible Diary”.
Nowhere can we find any of Jesus’ teachings calling his disciples to demand cleanliness of houses of worship for them to bring the words of God. So it is our take that this particular priest could have done his thing in a more professional manner had he refrained from including his comments of the subject chapel in his homily and had talked it over with the GKK leaders in private instead.
Indeed it is very unfortunate that we have such man of God with an ungodly way of dealing with His flock. It is character like this that makes many doubt how such spreader of God’s words will be able to attract adherents to the Catholic faith, or how many they will drive away.
Could priest like him be one reason why many other religions are now able to encroach in the predominantly Catholic communities?
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The raging political war between the group of former President Rodrigo Duterte and incumbent
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. is getting nastier by the day. The scathing attacks from the camp of the former President is seemingly concentrated more on the person of the President specifically on his alleged use of illegal drugs.
On the part of incumbent Marcos, Jr. so far he has stuck on issue-based tirades whether the harangues are directed to Vice President Sara or to the former President who is the acknowledged leader in the anti-Marcos juggernaut.
The latest of the Marcos, Jr.’s counter attacks have so far, detached the President from the issues hurled against the Duterte group. Hence, all the latter has done is to suspect that the many vloggers defending the President or carrying out the anti-Duterte blasts are doing their thing under the baton of Malacanang.
And some four days ago, the nastiest “political war materiel” believed used to derail the Duterte group’s offensive is the testimony of an incarcerated former Customs Intelligence officer in Jimmy Gumban who told the quad-committee hearing in Congress that the former President’s son Congressman Polong, Vice President Sara’s husband and Duterte’s Chinese economic adviser Michael Yang were involved in the big-time illegal drugs importation worth about P6.8 billion.
The said drug bust was later subjected to a Senate investigation but the result of the Upper Chamber probe was somewhat “dumped down the canal of forgotten memories” by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.
Gumban, who refused to name the personalities he now boldly disclosed in the Congressional probe, eventually bore the brunt of the controversy after the person he identified in the Senate Blue Ribbon investigation as involved – Col. Eduardo Acierto went into hiding.
Gumban was charged and eventually imprisoned for already six years. Now he is claiming he has recanted his earlier testimony against Acierto and some others. He points instead to Congressman Polong, his brother-in-law and the controversial Yang.
Whether or not Gumban’s latest identification of the Duterte family members and economic adviser is true it is clear that the timing cannot escape being associated with the ongoing bitter political fight involving the groups of the former President and the incumbent one.
And from the looks of it, the protagonists are just too willing to resurrect even those issues long moribund in the consciousness of the Filipino people and even spicing it up with invented and/or fake narratives to gain advantage.
